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Whooping cough
I know we have a wide range of opinions on this board, so I'd really like anyone with an opinion to voice it. 
. There's apparently a higher than normal outbreak of whooping cough...especially concentrated in most of the states around OK. Today a 7 week old that had contracted the disease passed away at Children's Hospital. After reading comments on the news article, a few people were saying how this all could have been prevented if the people close to the child had gotten vaccinated. After looking at the CDC web site, it's recommended that pregnant women should get a vaccination after 20 weeks, along with the dad, grandparents, etc. My doula gave me this web site to read (she won't state her stance on the vaccine for me) http://www.nvic.org/vaccines-and-diseases/Whooping-Cough.aspx. Obviously I will also discuss this with my doctor.
I guess my question is: If you were pregnant, would you get the vaccination after 20weeks? If you were going to be in close quarters with a newborn, would you get vaccinated? (say you're the aunt, the nanny, mom's BFF, etc).
Re: Whooping cough
If I had a newborn, I would definitely want to make sure my childcare provider - nanny or daycare or whatever, had been properly vaccinated. To have *everyone* that is in contact with the child vaccinated...I don't know. Until this happened, I never would have considered it, actually. It definitely makes sense for the mother and father to be vaccinated especially considering the recent outbreak....yikes. What a very sad situation.
I saw that story too. My heart breaks for the family.
With the increased number of cases, I would get vaccinated and also ask family to as well. I know you can't protect your kids from everyone, but atleast I know the people my baby will around the most are safe.
I agree with this. You can't make sure that everyone your infant comes in contact with is vaccinated, but you can definitely minimize the risk by making sure that those who will be holding him/her the most have been vaccinated.
As you know (but others may not) Chase (#2) isn't getting all the recommended vaccines. I researched each one and decided which ones I felt like the risk of getting the disease is scarier than the side effects/ingredients in the vaccines.
I decided to give him DTaP because of pertussis (if there was one JUST for pertussis, instead of grouping it with diphtheria and tetanus I would have chosen that... but it's not available). There are no animal or human tissues routinely used in the vaccine and the aluminum content is low. Those are my main concerns and why I chose to exclude certain vaccines.
Now, how these things affect a fetus I'm not sure and I don't know what I'd do. But, those are the reasons I chose to give Chase this vaccine. He actually just had his first dose last month.
I'd definitely be interested to hear what your doctor says about getting it while pregnant....the more I think about it, the more I think I'd still do like I did with G and get it right after delivery but again, I'd like to hear the opinion of some medical professionals.
The CDC web site said that the vaccine takes 2 weeks to go into effect, so that is why they're recommending anyone that will be in close contact with the baby to get the vaccine prior to the birth. I don't like the idea of anything being put in my body while I'm pregnant though...I was even weird about the flu shot when pregnant with B. I wouldn't mind getting the shot inthe hospital...but hospitals are germ filled places, and if the vaccine isn't effective when I'm there (the place I consider a big exposure risk) I'm not sure that I won't be an anxiety ridden freak.
I never even thought about this stuff when I had B. Maybe that's one of the positives about having a baby at 23! I was young and stupid. (yeah, not all mothers are at 23. But I damn sure was).
But the risk of getting the other diseases is only low because you rely on the fact that everyone else is vaccinating their kids.
I would not feel comfortable getting that vaccine while pregnant.
Did you read something I need to read?!
I was 22 when I had JJ - and compared to this pregnancy, I was definitely young and stupid when I had him. There are so many more things I'm aware of this pregnancy, which means I've worried a hell of a lot more this time around. With JJ, it was so easy, and I was so laid back...[which translates to I was young and stupid]
That's what I was afraid of. Darn it. I guess I still don't know where I stand on it then.
Isn't that one that they can do a blood test to check immunity levels? I choose to skip first tri screenings but I do have my blood work run to ensure overall health. I am pretty sure that my levels were acceptable on this but I do need a booster after this baby is born for something else. I just had a check up today and nothing was mentioned to me about getting the vax nor did I bring it up. I know I did not have the vax when B was born.
FWIW, I selectively vax B and on a delayed schedule but she has had dtap.
I'd love to see legitimate non-refuted medical studies (done by MDs) that suggest not vaccinating or delaying when there is no medical issue present. It cracks me up (in a bad way) that people who didn't complete 12 years of med school think they somehow know better than the majority of those who did.
AND. Anti-vaxxers are the reason babies die from whooping cough. Congratulations.
I know you're saying this to get a rise in those who choose to delay vaccs but your statement is stretching. No mom in the world is going to put their child in a position that could cause them harm. Saying those who choose to delay are doing just that is like saying all poor people are that way because they're lazy and all obese people are overweight because they eat too much. There is no evidence to prove any of those statements. There are actual MD's who have researched the benefits/drawbacks of delayed vaccs and are educating their patients about their findings. It's easy to pass judgement on those who don't want to pump their children full of fillers and metals because it goes against what we've had pushed at us for so long. Until you see a perfectly normal child go from healthy to dd because of the effects of a vacc you won't get it.
I don't think she is saying they are putting just their kid intentionally at risk, I think she's saying it puts the rest of society, particularly those most vulnerable at a greater and unnecessary risk.
I'm pretty sure even the researchers who originally claimed a link between autism and vaccines have now admitted that they falsified data / conclusions to suggest the outcome that their funding sources wanted.
Yes, thinking people should vaccinate their child to help ensure other children don't die is the same as thinking fat people are lazy. What?!?
I don't think anyone is trying to harm their own child. I'm sure they think they are making the best choice. BUT, the "herd immunity" that protects their unvaccinated child and those who CAN'T get the vaccine is declining because more and more people aren't vaccinating. Again, this is why infants are dying.
So you're relying on every other parent to, in your opinion, do what's not best for their kid so YOUR kid stays protected.